Can't Be Just One Way
This was in Time magazine recently, typical stuff about how Jesus just simply can't be the only way to heaven. The twist here is that evangelicals are now supposedly coming to terms with this truth.
Some devout evangelicals will rail against this with every fiber of their being, but if they understood God's economy as clearly laid out in the Bible they'd actually get it. What is about that economy, exactly, that evangelicals aren't quite getting here?
It is very simple, actually.
There is a World, and there is a Kingdom. Here is what that looks like:
World: a bunch of religions, each with its own idiosyncratic ideas about life and death, truth and falsehood, salvation and damnation, peace and war, love and fear. Indeed most of those ideas are actually pretty rational, reasonably veritable. That is, most of these fine religious domains will say "Be a good person and things will be fine." That's true! And how sweet it is to have so many different ways to try to do that. That's nice.
Kingdom: Jesus Christ. Everyone else completely and wholly incapable of getting anywhere nice because they're so wretched, which is why Christ is God who gave His life because He loved us enough to do that. We want it? We just accept the gift. With it we get everything. Anything outside of that is just pretend, which religions are very very good at.
Now, here's the rub. Isn't that last thing, that "Kingdom" thing, precisely what evangelicals say? How come they're getting sucked into all this distolerant World turmoil as spewed by Time magazine? That reason is simple, too, but so many evangelicals refuse to see it.
It is because they've made themselves one of those religions of the World.
They do that by being incorporated. They sign the contract that says "Let us govern you." When an "evangelical" assembly hooks up with Caesar to be a 501c3 non-profit incorporation, with W-4 tax requirements, Social Security identifications, and any of a number of other Worldly contracts that they have been deceived into believing are just "business," they say to God "We're not under your authority any more..."
"We are now a part of the World."
Therefore, the "evangelical religion" is just as much in with the Time magazine/World institution abjectly oblivious ignorance of who Christ is and what He did. As much as they rail against those turncoat evangelicals who now say "Yeah, other religions are pretty cool too" they become a festering part of the virulent culture war--you could see it all over that Time piece.
What does it take for evangelicals to return to vibrant effective ministry to the lost? That too is simple. Really, it is just too simple it blows my mind.
Love them.
But that's too hard to do without Christ.
And it is impossible from the World.
Some devout evangelicals will rail against this with every fiber of their being, but if they understood God's economy as clearly laid out in the Bible they'd actually get it. What is about that economy, exactly, that evangelicals aren't quite getting here?
It is very simple, actually.
There is a World, and there is a Kingdom. Here is what that looks like:
World: a bunch of religions, each with its own idiosyncratic ideas about life and death, truth and falsehood, salvation and damnation, peace and war, love and fear. Indeed most of those ideas are actually pretty rational, reasonably veritable. That is, most of these fine religious domains will say "Be a good person and things will be fine." That's true! And how sweet it is to have so many different ways to try to do that. That's nice.
Kingdom: Jesus Christ. Everyone else completely and wholly incapable of getting anywhere nice because they're so wretched, which is why Christ is God who gave His life because He loved us enough to do that. We want it? We just accept the gift. With it we get everything. Anything outside of that is just pretend, which religions are very very good at.
Now, here's the rub. Isn't that last thing, that "Kingdom" thing, precisely what evangelicals say? How come they're getting sucked into all this distolerant World turmoil as spewed by Time magazine? That reason is simple, too, but so many evangelicals refuse to see it.
It is because they've made themselves one of those religions of the World.
They do that by being incorporated. They sign the contract that says "Let us govern you." When an "evangelical" assembly hooks up with Caesar to be a 501c3 non-profit incorporation, with W-4 tax requirements, Social Security identifications, and any of a number of other Worldly contracts that they have been deceived into believing are just "business," they say to God "We're not under your authority any more..."
"We are now a part of the World."
Therefore, the "evangelical religion" is just as much in with the Time magazine/World institution abjectly oblivious ignorance of who Christ is and what He did. As much as they rail against those turncoat evangelicals who now say "Yeah, other religions are pretty cool too" they become a festering part of the virulent culture war--you could see it all over that Time piece.
What does it take for evangelicals to return to vibrant effective ministry to the lost? That too is simple. Really, it is just too simple it blows my mind.
Love them.
But that's too hard to do without Christ.
And it is impossible from the World.
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